The Pentagon said Friday it is funding, in part, a $171-million venture with local government, academia, and more than 160 tech companies—ranging from Apple to Lockheed Martin—to develop electronics and wearables with flexible and stretchable sensors for both civilian and military applications.
"The potential array of products range from wearable devices to improved medical health monitoring technologies, and will certainly increase the variety and capability of sensors that already interconnect the world. The technologies promise dual use applications in both the consumer economy and the development of military solutions for the warfighter," the Pentagon said in a statement.
The investment, the military said, could pave the way for wearable health monitors for the elderly or become part of military uniforms. What's more, the plan could produce "thin, bendable sensors that could be tucked into cracks or crevices on weapons, ships or bridges where bulky wiring could never fit. The sensors could telegraph structural problems or trigger repair alerts," The Associated Press said. The AP quoted an anonymous Pentagon official who said Defense Secretary Ash Carter's goal is to build better relations with the high-tech industry "in order to better equip the military force of the future."
The venture is named the Flexible Hybrid Electronic Institute and will be spearheaded by the FlexTech Alliance of California.
The FlexTech team consortium includes more than 160 companies, nonprofits, independent research organizations, and universities such as Stanford and MIT. The group is to be managed by the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and will get $75 million in DOD funding over five years. Industry, academia, and local governments will match it with $90 million.
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